Vibya Natana - Youth of African descent: Rights-holders and agents of change - PFPAD5 Panel

FOCAL QUESTION: Based on your experience, how can institutions move beyond symbolic youth engagement to meaningfully embed young people of African descent in decision-making roles, and what structural changes are needed to ensure their participation translates into real influence over policy and governance outcomes? Please also include 2-3 concrete recommendations on how States and institutions can meaningfully engage and empower youth of African descent.

INTERVENTION: Thank you Professor Hansford. Greetings Madame Chair, members of the forum your excellencies, and elders. Thank you to OEDD led by Candies Kotchapaw, our phenomenal team, and the PFPAD secretariat for this opportunity. Most specially today I greet my fellow panelists and youth delegates. Salaam Alaykum, Banda, Mi kado.

My name is Vibya Natana, grandaughter of Lucy, Michael, Natana, and Vibya. Daughter of Onoria and John. I’ve greeted you in 3 languages I have a complex relationship with as a youth of African descent born and raised in the heart of the canadian prairies: Arabic creole from South Sudan, and 2 indigenous South Sudanese languages from groups considered ethnic minorities: the Kakwa and Moru peoples. I am South Sudanese by heritage and Canadian as a result of familial displacement connected to colonialism, imperialism, and the arab slave trade, a journey transformed through access to educational pathways. My work has taken me from local community organizing to regional systems work and now into macrosocial work and multilateral spaces with the Organization for Economic Development and Diplomacy (OEDD). Across each of these levels, I have observed a consistent pattern: the issues young people of African descent identify locally are not isolated. They repeat regionally and are mirrored globally, often compounded by even greater barriers to access and influence. 

There is also a question that institutions continue to ask: where/ are /the /youth?

The reality is that youth are not waiting to be found. We are already organizing, building, and leading. And while meaningful youth engagement is still being discussed in institutional spaces, young people are not pausing for the door to be fully open. They are creating their own doors. 

Across Canada, what does this look like in practice? 

This is what I have learnt through my experiences from community development on the prairies to crossing provinces in Canada through youth consultations to speak with Black youth and connecting Black youth beyond that in Barbados, Thailand, Jamaica, and more:

When a lack of representation in curriculum contributes to anti-Black racism and harassment in elementary schools, what happens? Youth of African-descent are authoring their own books, creating resources that reflect their histories and realities, and bringing those materials directly into classrooms and communities.

When the absence of data is used to suggest that Black experiences and disparities do not exist, what happens? Youth of African-descent conduct their own surveys, from playgrounds to lecture halls, gathering evidence and bringing it to city halls across the country to demonstrate that their realities are both valid and urgent.

When there is a lack of access to nature-based leisure and fitness spaces, what happens? Youth of African-descent create their own programs, reclaiming space and building community-centered approaches to wellness and belonging.

When traditional financial systems deny them access to loans or capital, what happens? Youth of African-descent find alternative pathways, developing community-based solutions and entrepreneurial models that bypass exclusionary systems.

When we see our brothers and sisters falling through the cracks of mental health crises, substance abuse, and as victims of violence connected to various aspects of their identity?

When there is no one in the family or immediate network to open doors after graduation, what happens? Initiatives like OEDD’s flagship program, the Black Diplomats Academy, which I am here with today, are stepping in to fill that gap, providing mentorship, career navigation, and strategic exposure to leadership and diplomacy pathways that would otherwise remain out of reach.

These are powerful examples of innovation, resilience, and leadership.

But they are the exception, not the rule. And their impact, while significant, far underserves the scale of the population and the depth of the need.

Youth itself is not an unlimited resource. It is a stage of life with a very real horizon. As much as it is a time of innovation and possibility, it is also a period shaped by constraint, transition, and preparation. Many young people are building solutions while simultaneously navigating the very inequities they are trying to address. Without structural support, many of these initiatives do not sustain, not because they lack impact, but because the conditions required for longevity are not in place.

At the same time, a strong global community cannot rely on youth innovation alone. It requires intergenerational exchange.

Youth bring urgency, creativity, and proximity to emerging challenges. Those who have come before bring historical context, institutional knowledge, and wisdom shaped by experience.

What becomes possible when innovation meets wisdom is not only more effective solutions, but more ethical ones, especially in a time where development is outpacing our collective ability to build the relationships needed for safeguarding and accountability.

So when we speak about youth of African descent as rights holders and agents of change, we must also speak about power.

Symbolic youth engagement is when young people are invited into spaces to be seen, but not to shape outcomes.

Symbolic youth engagement is when young people are invited into spaces to be seen, but not to shape outcomes. This distinction is not new, as scholars and practitioners have been naming it for decades. What Sherry Arnstein called the 'ladder of participation' and what the 2020 UNESCO Youth Engagement Toolkit operationalizes for our generation both point to the same truth: meaningful embedding requires a redistribution of power, shared decision-making, and youth authority to hold systems accountable.

Structural change ensures this is embedded into governance, funding, and institutional design.

And real influence is the result: voting power, paid and supported roles, and platforms to reach and mobilize communities.

The evidence for action is already clear. Youth positioned to advocate, facilitate connection, and investigate youth issues contribute to increased outcomes across employment and education which are key underpinnings to wellbeing overall.

There’s so much more. We know the research exists. The evidence exists. We’ve lived it.

 The question is: who will act? And who is willing to shift power?

If institutions are serious about moving beyond symbolic engagement, the response must be co-designed with goals of effective governance, equity, and economic justice.

First, States and institutions must establish funded, decision-making roles for youth within governance structures. Youth positions should have voting power and be integrated into broader decision-making bodies. When paired with intergenerational mentorship, this creates policies that are both innovative and grounded, improving legitimacy, responsiveness, and long-term impact.

Second, there must be dedicated, accessible, and sustained funding streams for Black youth-led and youth-serving initiatives. Properly resourced initiatives evolve into scalable solutions that extend the reach of public systems, address service gaps, and reduce long-term costs through preventative, community-based approaches.

Third, institutions must invest in formal youth structures within national and international systems, including a funded youth arm connected to the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, while expanding engagement into digital spaces. This increases accessibility, strengthens global collaboration, and ensures that policy is informed by lived realities across both the continent and the diaspora.

Ultimately, youth of African descent are already demonstrating leadership, innovation, and commitment.

The question is not whether we are ready.

The question is whether institutions are prepared to meet us there. My presence in this room is the product of displacement, resilience, and an educational pathway that happened to exist. Countless others with equal capacity may never be in the decision making rooms we need to lend their experiences to the solution. That is not a talent gap. That is a structural one we cannot afford to pass down.

Thank you.